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Dartmouth at a Glance

Founded in 1769, Dartmouth is a member of the Ivy League and consistently ranks among the world's greatest academic institutions. Dartmouth has forged a singular identity for combining its deep commitment to outstanding undergraduate liberal arts and graduate education with distinguished research and scholarship in the Arts & Sciences and its three leading professional schools—the Geisel School of Medicine, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business.

Mission

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Philip J. Hanlon ’77 became the 18th president of Dartmouth College on June 10, 2013. He is the 10th Dartmouth alumnus to serve as its president and the first since the 1981 to 1987 tenure of David T. McLaughlin ’54, Tuck ’55.

President Hanlon, 57, previously the Donald J. Lewis Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. An accomplished academic and administrative leader, Hanlon had been a Michigan faculty member since 1986 and served in a succession of administrative leadership roles there for more than a decade, most recently as the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

As a mathematician, Hanlon focuses on probability and combinatorics, the study of finite structures and their significance as they relate to bioinformatics, computer science, and other fields. Hanlon has earned numerous honors and awards for his mathematical research, including a Sloan Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Henry Russel Award, and the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and held an Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship, the University of Michigan’s highest recognition of faculty whose commitment to undergraduate teaching has had a demonstrable impact on the intellectual development and lives of their students.

Hanlon is married to Gail Gentes, who joined Dartmouth as the director of action-based learning programs. The couple has three children, all in their 20s.

Off-Campus Programs

Dartmouth undergraduates have the opportunity to study in over 45 faculty-led off-campus programs in more than 20 countries. About 60 percent of undergraduates take part in an off-campus program at least once during their Dartmouth career.

Professional Schools

Founded in 1797, Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine ranks among the nation’s top medical schools and is known for pioneering many advancements in education, research, and patient care. Geisel encompasses 17 clinical and basic science departments, and draws on the resources of Dartmouth College and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. In addition to the MD degree, the Geisel School offers graduate education in the biomedical sciences and public health.

Thayer School of Engineering comprises both the undergraduate Department of Engineering Sciences and a professional school with degrees through the doctorate.

Tuck School of Business is the first graduate school of management and consistently ranks among the top business schools worldwide. Tuck offers a full-time M.B.A. as well as executive education and a number of non-degree programs.

History

Dartmouth was founded in 1769 by the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock for “the education and instruction of Youth of the Indian Tribes in this Land ... and also of English Youth and any others.” The Supreme Court decision in the famous “Dartmouth College Case” of 1819, argued by Daniel Webster (Class of 1801), is considered to be one of the most important and formative documents in United States constitutional history, strengthening the contract clause of the Constitution and thereby paving the way for all American private institutions to conduct their affairs in accordance with their charters and without interference from the state. Dartmouth became coeducational in 1972, and was named by the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton as one of the world’s “most enduring institutions” in 2004.

Athletics

Dartmouth offers 34 intercollegiate varsity sports (16 women's, 16 men's, two co-ed) at the NCAA Division I level, two dozen intramural sports, and approximately three dozen club sports. Three-quarters of Dartmouth undergraduates participate in some form of athletics.

Alumni

Fifty-nine thousand alumni of the undergraduate college, around the world, make up the bulk of Dartmouth's 77,000 alumni, including the graduate and professional programs. The undergraduate alumni annual fund giving rate in 2014 was 46 percent.